The girlfriend of a contract killer has been jailed for 10 months for hiding the trainers he wore when he stabbed a woman to death in the New Forest.
Lian Doyle, 24, was tasked by Justin Robertson with disposing of the shoes he was wearing when he murdered Pennie Davis, a mother of five, having been paid to do so by his friend Ben Carr.
Robertson, 36, and Carr, 22, have both been jailed for life and told they will serve a minimum of 32 and 30 years respectively. Robertson killed Davis, a supermarket worker, as she tended her horses in the New Forest.
Carr wanted Davis dead because he was worried she intended to resurrect old and unproven allegations that he had carried out indecent assaults when he was 14.
After the murder, Robertson told Doyle to burn his shoes as he went on the run from police; in fact she gave them to someone else to get rid of.
Winchester crown court heard she thought Robertson, a career criminal, had worn the trainers during a burglary.
She initially lied to police on his behalf until she realised the shoes were vital evidence in a murder investigation and asked to be re-interviewed, where she confessed to her crime.
Sentencing her, Mr Justice Popplewell said: “I’m satisfied that Justin Robertson was a dominant character and he is likely to have manipulated you.”
Doyle was immediately released from custody having already spent over six months on remand. She admitted perverting the course of justice.
